Tag Archives: Huffington Post

One particularly ignorant ammunitions maker in Idaho released a line of pork-infused ammunition this week, claiming that the ammo would “strike fear into the hearts” of radical Muslims. From Jihawg Ammo’s website:

A natural deterrent that prevents violence just by owning it but will strike fear into the hearts of those bent upon hate, violence and murder. Jihawg Ammo is certified “Haraam” or unclean. According to the belief system of the radical Islamist becoming “unclean” during Jihad will prevent their attaining entrance into heaven. Jihawg Ammo is a natural deterrent to radical and suicidal acts of violence.

First off, the pork-infused paint is supposed to… what? Make Muslims not want to get shot? Does anyone want to get shot? Regardless of the kind of meat (or lack of meat) that the bullets were marinated in?

Second, I’m pretty sure that they made up the thing about how pork bullets would send a Muslim to hell. As HuffPo’s Senior Religion Editor, Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush, said in a recent video segment:

“There’s no Muslim or any scholar who would say that this would be effective in sending a Muslim to hell. …This is like some concoction in some nut job in Idaho’s ‘ooo. Let’s do this.'”

I find this ammunition disturbing. Not only because it reveals the profound ignorance of its creators but also because of the way it is culturally pointed. These bullets are a way to dehumanize the individuals they are meant to kill — like needing to use silver bullets for werewolves. Creating this “special” ammunition is like saying that Muslims are a different kind of being altogether, requiring different ammunition.

When I attended the 2012 SHOT Show, I was struck by the sheer amount of firearms, ammo, and accessories geared toward fighting zombies. The Jihawg ammo reminds me of those ridiculous zombie guns except that the fantasy and fear created by this product reinforces racism rather than combats it. Zombie bullets neutralize some of my negative associations with firearms by undermining the implication that the guns would be used to kill people. There’s a sense of play and moral intuition at work in Zombie gun products.

Pork bullets, however, double down on the idea that firearms are objects of terror. Jihawg states this outright when they say that just knowing that these bullets exist is supposed to create a “peaceful deterrence” from “Jihadists.”